Getzen 1047FR*
- TboneDN
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Jan 04, 2022
Hello fellow trombone lovers!
I wanted to share with you a project horn that has been in the works for many years.
First off, I've been playing on an early '90s Bach 42B for over 30 years, that exactly 30 years ago had a Thayer Valve installed on. I actually ordered the valve directly from Ed Thayer himself over the phone! It is the cut-out anodized aluminum version, that I had installed by Eric Swanson here in the DFW metroplex. I have read so many horror stories involving axial flow valves, but if installed correctly, like mine was, you shouldn't have any issue. It is still quick, and responsive, and is fantastic. I have done normal maintenance to it, but not constant, like I read from others. This horn got my through college and I have performed on it in trombone choirs and orchestras. I love it, and can't find any other horn that could replace it, for my tastes.
However, I wanted something different... A solo horn, if you will. So, I remembered early in college being introduced to Getzen. I played on the 3047s, and liked the red brass version more than the yellow. This was the same for the 1047 series. I'll come back to that in little bit.
While in college, I privately taught at some junior highs in the area, and would have my students get the Getzen 747 as a step up horn, because it was really good and super affordable. The only thing I didn't like about it was the tight closed wrap F-attachment. I recommended to one of my students to get it converted to an open wrap, which was done by Swanson. It was a good improvement. Years later, my son started to play trombone, and I bought a 747 off of Craigslist for $300! It was an original model from the mid '90s, and the valve had lost compression. Fortunately, I come across Instrument Innovations, since I had learned about the new Infinity valve being put on Bachs and that they were the manufacturer of the valve. I saw that they also made an oversized rotor, which intrigued me, with the popularity growing of these types of valve now being also produced by Greenhoe, Rotax, Meinlschmidt, etc. Inst. Innov. had some traditional rotors that were left over from supplying them to Blessing, for $100, so I bought one, along with some extra tubing and a tuning slide crook, and took it to a tech I had met while playing in a trombone choir, Eric Edwards (Bonearzt). He did a fantastic job building and installing a new valve section on my son's horn. The wrap looks a lot like the Brass Ark/Sawday one. Once again, big improvement, and fantastic job! By the way, both Swanson and Edwards are big fans of the Inst. Innov. rotor valve.
So, back to my wanting a solo horn. I decided I wanted to get a Getzen 1047FR, and swap out the valve with the Instrument Innovations (Olsen) rotor. So, back in the early 2020s, I started looking for a Getzen 1047FR. Craigslist didn't have any, and EBay would occasionally have one, but out of my price range (or always get outbid). In January 2022 I finally joined this forum and asked if anyone had one to sell. Nothing. A few years went by, and I asked again last summer. This time, I had someone on the forum that had one! I had already bought the valve from the Olsen's, since prices kept going up, so it just sat on the shelf in its little box waiting. I had to sell another horn (a different 747 that had an open wrap conversion done by Swanson some years back), and neeeded make some money from my side gig as a piano tuner to afford the install. However, one little problem: Swanson had retired from being a tech (selling off his tools to an apprentice in OKC) and Edwards was no longer doing custom work! I asked for recommendations. Swanson recommended the guy in OKC, and Edwards recommended Justin Cooper at UNT. Edwards said that Cooper did great work. Why hadn't I ever heard of him?? However, I trusted the recommendation, and took my new horn, valve, a new inner slide (since one of the original tubes had plating wear), a bi-thread leadpipe receiver from the Olsen's, and some other miscellaneous parts to Cooper, and let him do his magic.
A few months later, I returned to a beautifully done horn. I had a set of 1, 2 & 3 Shires lead pipes that I had borrowed, and found the 2 to be just right paired with a Laskey Alessi Solo mpc. I blew threw the horn... it now feels so open! Then I started playing, engaging the valve. Wow! This rotor was almost as open as my Thayer! Absolutely amazing, pretty, warm and sweet sound. Cooper added a Greenhoe style "dual edge brace" that is really strong, with no contact to any main tubing, with the valve section actually being really close to the horn, even closer than with the previous braces. The previous owner of the horn had stripped the lacquer from the outer slide, and since I didn't want it patina unevenly, I had Cooper give the slide a brushed finished and lacquered it. Finally, I added a "Sauer" brace from M/K Drawing at the end of the slide to help clean up articulation loss from the red brass. I had bough one years ago for my Bach, and discovered it helped to slot the 7th partial notes (which some of you know have is an issue on many a Bach). So, my "project" horn played the way I was hoping for! However, I wasn’t completely satisfied. I did my research, and M/K had a George Roberts pipe for tenors that supposedly worked well with 2 pieces bells. I ordered it, screwed it in, and was blown away! Everything was even better! My dream project solo horn turned out better than I could have imagined!
Quick side note, I was playing 1st trombone at Easter for a Messiah concert, and I realized it was an alto part. No problem, I swapped out my leadpipe back to the Shires 1, and I had that pretty bright sound needed as well as being way easier to play those high notes, without the intonation issues of an alto. So, it’s got flexibility as well.
So that's my story. All in, trombone, parts, and labor ended up being around $2200, which was well worth it, IMO. I've included pics for you to check out. Let me know what you think, and if you have any questions. Thanks for your time!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bznHxpQDn7RCzpYe7
I wanted to share with you a project horn that has been in the works for many years.
First off, I've been playing on an early '90s Bach 42B for over 30 years, that exactly 30 years ago had a Thayer Valve installed on. I actually ordered the valve directly from Ed Thayer himself over the phone! It is the cut-out anodized aluminum version, that I had installed by Eric Swanson here in the DFW metroplex. I have read so many horror stories involving axial flow valves, but if installed correctly, like mine was, you shouldn't have any issue. It is still quick, and responsive, and is fantastic. I have done normal maintenance to it, but not constant, like I read from others. This horn got my through college and I have performed on it in trombone choirs and orchestras. I love it, and can't find any other horn that could replace it, for my tastes.
However, I wanted something different... A solo horn, if you will. So, I remembered early in college being introduced to Getzen. I played on the 3047s, and liked the red brass version more than the yellow. This was the same for the 1047 series. I'll come back to that in little bit.
While in college, I privately taught at some junior highs in the area, and would have my students get the Getzen 747 as a step up horn, because it was really good and super affordable. The only thing I didn't like about it was the tight closed wrap F-attachment. I recommended to one of my students to get it converted to an open wrap, which was done by Swanson. It was a good improvement. Years later, my son started to play trombone, and I bought a 747 off of Craigslist for $300! It was an original model from the mid '90s, and the valve had lost compression. Fortunately, I come across Instrument Innovations, since I had learned about the new Infinity valve being put on Bachs and that they were the manufacturer of the valve. I saw that they also made an oversized rotor, which intrigued me, with the popularity growing of these types of valve now being also produced by Greenhoe, Rotax, Meinlschmidt, etc. Inst. Innov. had some traditional rotors that were left over from supplying them to Blessing, for $100, so I bought one, along with some extra tubing and a tuning slide crook, and took it to a tech I had met while playing in a trombone choir, Eric Edwards (Bonearzt). He did a fantastic job building and installing a new valve section on my son's horn. The wrap looks a lot like the Brass Ark/Sawday one. Once again, big improvement, and fantastic job! By the way, both Swanson and Edwards are big fans of the Inst. Innov. rotor valve.
So, back to my wanting a solo horn. I decided I wanted to get a Getzen 1047FR, and swap out the valve with the Instrument Innovations (Olsen) rotor. So, back in the early 2020s, I started looking for a Getzen 1047FR. Craigslist didn't have any, and EBay would occasionally have one, but out of my price range (or always get outbid). In January 2022 I finally joined this forum and asked if anyone had one to sell. Nothing. A few years went by, and I asked again last summer. This time, I had someone on the forum that had one! I had already bought the valve from the Olsen's, since prices kept going up, so it just sat on the shelf in its little box waiting. I had to sell another horn (a different 747 that had an open wrap conversion done by Swanson some years back), and neeeded make some money from my side gig as a piano tuner to afford the install. However, one little problem: Swanson had retired from being a tech (selling off his tools to an apprentice in OKC) and Edwards was no longer doing custom work! I asked for recommendations. Swanson recommended the guy in OKC, and Edwards recommended Justin Cooper at UNT. Edwards said that Cooper did great work. Why hadn't I ever heard of him?? However, I trusted the recommendation, and took my new horn, valve, a new inner slide (since one of the original tubes had plating wear), a bi-thread leadpipe receiver from the Olsen's, and some other miscellaneous parts to Cooper, and let him do his magic.
A few months later, I returned to a beautifully done horn. I had a set of 1, 2 & 3 Shires lead pipes that I had borrowed, and found the 2 to be just right paired with a Laskey Alessi Solo mpc. I blew threw the horn... it now feels so open! Then I started playing, engaging the valve. Wow! This rotor was almost as open as my Thayer! Absolutely amazing, pretty, warm and sweet sound. Cooper added a Greenhoe style "dual edge brace" that is really strong, with no contact to any main tubing, with the valve section actually being really close to the horn, even closer than with the previous braces. The previous owner of the horn had stripped the lacquer from the outer slide, and since I didn't want it patina unevenly, I had Cooper give the slide a brushed finished and lacquered it. Finally, I added a "Sauer" brace from M/K Drawing at the end of the slide to help clean up articulation loss from the red brass. I had bough one years ago for my Bach, and discovered it helped to slot the 7th partial notes (which some of you know have is an issue on many a Bach). So, my "project" horn played the way I was hoping for! However, I wasn’t completely satisfied. I did my research, and M/K had a George Roberts pipe for tenors that supposedly worked well with 2 pieces bells. I ordered it, screwed it in, and was blown away! Everything was even better! My dream project solo horn turned out better than I could have imagined!
Quick side note, I was playing 1st trombone at Easter for a Messiah concert, and I realized it was an alto part. No problem, I swapped out my leadpipe back to the Shires 1, and I had that pretty bright sound needed as well as being way easier to play those high notes, without the intonation issues of an alto. So, it’s got flexibility as well.
So that's my story. All in, trombone, parts, and labor ended up being around $2200, which was well worth it, IMO. I've included pics for you to check out. Let me know what you think, and if you have any questions. Thanks for your time!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bznHxpQDn7RCzpYe7